“For all the wounds, the longing, scars and pain/There’s a picture of a broken dream somehow reframed/One ordinary life somehow exchanged/I’m born again”
— from “15 Minutes”
If you need a controversial topic for your website message board, doctoral thesis, or dinner-party icebreaker, try engaging with the question of whether gospel artists should sing secular music (and vice versa).
Assuming no one challenges the assumptions inherent in such a question, your message board is going to get nasty, you’ll never finish the thesis and your guests will stay long enough to help with the dishes. No matter what your opinion, saints on either side of the issue are likely to “lose their religion” (or at the very least to sprain their good Bible hands) in the scramble to prove you wrong.
Two factors prevent the sacred/secular camps from reaching a resolution: A not-so-faint gnosticism on one side (“earthly”=bad, “spiritual”=good) and a stunning naïveté on the other (Bootylicious Christianity? Um, I don’t think we’re ready.).
In the meantime, artists like Michelle Williams of Destiny’s Child have chosen to negotiate within the divide rather than cross it. Admirably, Williams has chosen to make two full gospel albums during the height of her career with Destiny’s Child, rather than waiting until a career slump sent her running back to “church music,” or limiting an overtly Christian message to one or two album tracks.
Still, she’s responded defensively to interviewers who suggest there might be anything incompatible between her faith and Destiny’s Child’s lyrics, wardrobe choices and collective stage persona. In interviews, Williams has insisted the group’s music is more about empowerment than sex and that her stage outfits are merely costumes or uniforms—like a doctor’s scrubs.
Do You Know follows 2002’s Heart to Yours and tells the story of someone who experiences God’s grace and has met him throughout challenging times. Uptempo tunes like “Purpose In Your Storm” and the R&&B jam “Love Thang” (featuring Dawkins and Dawkins)” communicate encouragement and awe at God’s love. “The Incident” is a fun, easy groove sung from the perspective of the woman at the well. “My Only Love Is You” is a sampled reinterpretation of the James Brown classic “You’re My Only Love.”
Williams demonstrates the vocal and emotional range she employs as the lead role in Disney’s version of the opera Aida on songs like “Do You Know” and “15 Minutes.” The latter (excerpted at the top of this article) is an especially moving reflection on God’s grace in making dreams come true, featuring moving images of God as rescuer.
The reflective “Never Be the Same,” includes poignant strings, funky bass, flugelhorn and lyrics that sound strangely like a career retrospective, referring to a “Lovely heady game/This ascension into fame…As the days of yester wane/And all the melodies remain/We’ll sing our song again/even if you don’t remember my name…I know I’ll never be the same.” Williams’ voice floats lightly above the track with playful maturity.
There’s an occasional misstep in the album. For example, “Rescue My Heart” has the feel of a CeCe Winans song—which is understandable, since it was written by CeCe’s sister Angelique, and by CeCe’s longtime producers the Caldwell brothers (one of whom is Winans’ brother-in-law). Williams’ style is clearly derivative of Winans’ here, and those are big shoes to fill. There are also a few lyrical and sonic clichés throughout. All in all, this album is a bold witness—sans Jesus-as-unnamed-boyfriend—from someone who is living the questions the rest of us like to debate.
Unless specified clearly, we are not implying whether this artist is or is not a Christian. The views expressed are simply the author’s. For a more complete description of our Glimpses of God articles, click here.
